FireAde pro Larry Morgan has never missed a race at Heartland Park Topeka

TOPEKA, KS – Perhaps no one in the NHRA family is more distraught over the current state of affairs at Heartland Park Topeka than veteran Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan, who has competed at every national event at the venerable facility on the high plains since it opened in 1989.

Now, with the future of the track in legal limbo, Morgan is dead set on winning what could be the final NHRA national event there, and for the first time in a long time he has the car and the horsepower to get the job done.

“Gosh, I can’t even begin to imagine not having Topeka on the schedule,” Morgan said. “That would absolutely break our hearts. The history of drag racing in Kansas goes back long before I started racing because the first-ever national event was held in that state. Then they built Heartland Park and it’s such a great facility. We’ve always had fun there.

“The thing concerning me the most is the fans of that area not having a home race to enjoy. Those folks have been so loyal to us, and the City of Topeka has always opened its arms to drag racing. When we come to town, they always make us feel like a really big deal and we love them for it. To think this might be the last race is hard to comprehend. I sure hope they get it straightened out. We need Topeka on the schedule.”

Morgan has raced to three final rounds at Heartland Park, in 1993, 1997, and 2008. In other years, he admits, he hasn’t had the best chance to win. But that all changed in January when he signed FireAde as a major sponsor and arranged a deal with Gray Motorsports to provide horsepower for his new Chevrolet Camaro.

After winning just three individual elimination rounds in the last two years, Morgan has come alive in 2015, winning his first national event in six years when he took the trophy at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte and racking up a respectable 6-6 race day record.

“It’s such an awesome feeling to pull through the gates knowing — not hoping — you can win,” Morgan said. “We know we can win this year, and quite frankly, if not for the driver, and that’s me, we would probably have at least one more trophy on the shelf.

“I’m really excited at this point because we’re heading into the summer and I’ve been around long enough to know championships are really earned in these hot months. The glory time happens down the stretch, but if you’ve done your work in the summer, then your chances for success are so much better.

“We should have gone further last weekend in Atlanta and that was by far the hottest race we’ve had so far. I just messed up at the Tree and we got beat on a holeshot. That’s not going to happen again. The good news is we have a car that not only carried us to a win when conditions were great (in Charlotte) but we had one capable of winning when it was brutal outside. That should bode well for us all summer.”

Qualifying for the NHRA Kansas Nationals takes place at 3:45 and 6:15 p.m., Friday, and 12:45 and 3:15 p.m., Saturday. Elimination racing begins at noon, Sunday. ESPN2 will carry all of the action